By Rashmi Sirdeshpande (author) , Adam Hayes (illustrator)
"The ultimate antidote to fake news and a recipe for resilience"
Paperback In Stock £9.99 £8.99
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Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Awards 2022 Best Books with Facts
From the same stable as the very excellent Dosh: How to Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Grow It we have a clear, accessible, fact packed analysis of the crises facing the world, charting the progress that has been made and the grounds for hope. I think everyone has recognised that this generation of young people may feel completely overwhelmed by what they have experienced and be suffering serious mental health issues as a result.
This book aims to help re-set their view of the world. The fascinating introduction explains psychologically the human fascination for bad news and how media focuses on the memorable story, which is inevitably horrific. There is an excellent summation of what fake news is and the difference between disinformation and misinformation and then some brilliant tips on how to fact check and spot fake news.
But this is by no means a recipe for complacency since every section: Humans, Politics, Planet, Health, Society and Arts, begins by outlining the problems, before the mix of quotes, anecdotes and fact boxes and case studies shows exactly what has been achieved already and what is in progress. This includes many projects that I certainly had never heard of, such as the Great Green Wall of Trees being built across the whole of Africa.
Every section also includes Challenges – empowering ways in which an individual can contribute to solving and not being the problem. It is highly admirable that this book goes beyond the obvious environmental issues to include politics and society and it is salutary to remind ourselves of the progress made on human rights, education and equality.
Also admirable and entirely fitting with the concept is a list of information sources and the origins of all the quotes used. An invaluable and much needed resource from an author with a real facility for straight talking and not talking down to young people.
The LoveReading LitFest invited Rashmi to the festival to talk about Good News with 13 year old Jack - find out why every child should read this book!
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Pandemics, war, terror, natural disasters - the world seems to be full of bad news and it can all feel, well, a little bit scary. But this is just part of the story. There are in fact tons of great things happening, from robots improving health care and trees healing the planet, to everyday people helping their community with acts of kindness and the businesses fighting for good in the world.
Read the full description
In Good News , children will learn to become fake news detectives, sussing out what's real and what isn't. They'll discover the good news - the amazing anecdotes, case studies and figures around the globe that are making a difference. And they'll learn that if we all continue to work together, things can only keep getting better and better. Empowering, reassuring and confidence-boosting, this book is a positive antidote for testing times.
Rashmi Sirdeshpande is a lawyer-turned-storyteller, who was part of the Penguin Random House Write Now mentoring programme in 2018. As a British Indian child, she didn't get to see many children like her in the books she read, so she is now passionate about writing stories that children from these backgrounds can relate to.
Commenting on what inspired her to write Good News, Rashmi Sirdeshpande said: “I grew up loving comics, picture books, puzzle books and fact books. Anything that sparked that WOW feeling inside me. Anything that carried me away! Because books are the cheapest ticket to absolutely everywhere - real and fantastical. And I love that today especially, there really is something for everyone out there. I wrote Good News to give young readers the facts about the biggest challenges we face on this planet but also the facts about how far we've come already, how much amazing work is being done, and how we have so many reasons to be hopeful about the future. Good News is the hardest, truest, most important thing I've ever written and to see it shortlisted for this incredible award means everything to me. Everything.”
Photo credit Charlotte Knee
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Pandemics, war, terror, natural disasters - the world seems to be full of bad news and it can all feel, well, a little bit scary. But this is just part of the story.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Good News and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
Good News features in the following genres: Interviews with Authors and Illustrators, Recommendations, Featured Books for 9+ readers, Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Politics, Law, Philosophy & Ethics, Work / Industry, Children’s / Teenage: General interest, Featured Books for 11+ readers
Paperback. £8.99, down from the £9.99 cover price. In Stock.
Good News was written by Rashmi Sirdeshpande and published by Wren & Rook an imprint of Hachette Children's Group
Good News has 159 pages
£8.99, reduced from £9.99. In Stock.
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